Regulation of Phenotypic Expression and Reproductive Performance by Climate Warming and Hypoxia
Key Personnel: Stuart Ludsin, Ian Hamilton, Alex Kua, Joe Dillon, Reed Brodnik, and Elizabeth Hoskins
I am part of a team of scientists, with expertise in fish ecology, behavior, physiology, and epigenetics, that conducted a novel intra- and inter-generational experiment to test how climate warming and hypoxia, two global and expanding forms of human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC), will effect reproductive performance in long-lived animals with no known exposure to such stress. Specifically, we are looked at how metabolism is altered, which drives the expression of an organism’s “phenotypic syndrome” (i.e., repeatable [in time], correlated physiological, behavioral, and life-history attributes). The Lake Tanganyika cichlid, Julidochromis ornatus, was used as a model organism.